Ice Cream
by UnwrittenEulogy
Summary: "It's supposed to be really big, Rodrick." Greg said, talking about the ice cream place that had just opened up at the mall. "You have to take us there. It's brand new and stuff! Come on, Rodrick, please? It's not like you have anything better to do..." [OneShot]


**I really want ice cream but it's too hot to leave the house and go get some. ********^-^'**

**Warnings: Some language.**

* * *

The first day of summer vacation, and already Greg and Manny were pestering Rodrick to take them to go get ice cream.

"It's supposed to be really big, Rodrick." Greg said, talking about a _really_ great ice cream place that had opened up at the mall. "You have to take us there. It's brand new and stuff! Come on, Rodrick, please? It's not like you have anything better to do..."

Rodrick turned up the volume on the tv.

Apparently not understanding this not-so-subtle hint to go away, Greg kept whining at him with that obnoxious voice of his and Manny crawled up on the arm of the couch and started pummelling Rodrick's shoulders with his tiny fists. What little patience Rodrick had was already nearly gone due to the fact that it was so incredibly hot outside, which seemed to put him into a bad mood without fail. Having little brothers climbing all over him and looking up at him with puppy dog eyes and talking in that pleading tone of voice that Rodrick just _hated_ didn't help anything.

"Come on, Rodrick. Please? It's too hot out to walk. Please Rodrick?"

"No!" Rodrick snapped and pried Manny off of his arm. The small child fell forwards off the back of the couch and landed where Rodrick had just been sitting with a surprised squeak.

Greg opened his mouth to say something, but one look at the dangerous scowl Rodrick shot in his direction made his mouth snap shut. He skittered backwards, out of the way as Rodrick stalked past him with one immediate goal in mind.

He would have made it too, if Susan hadn't been in the kitchen, and just _happened_ to have listened to everything that had happened in the other room.

"Rodrick, go take them to get some ice cream." She said, stopping him before he could escape upstairs to his room.

"Aw, Ma..."

"Just go. It'll be fun." She brushed off his protests and pushed a few bills in his hand. "And you three will have some quality time together too!" She beamed.

Rodrick scowled.

And kept scowling while he transferred Manny's car seat from Susan's car (there was no way he'd be caught dead driving around in _that_ thing) to his van, went back into the house for Manny's ratty blanket that he kept whining for, and finally started driving towards the mall, the windows all up and the air conditioning cranked.

This particular summer seemed ridiculously hot. So hot that no one in their right minds would want to be doing anything except camping out in the basement. It didn't help that Rodrick's room was in the attic, probably the hottest place in the house. And it certainly didn't help that he was outside, driving his two whiny brothers to go get ice cream that would probably be melting all down their arms in sticky streams before they even left the store.

From the back seat, Manny decided to start singing something so ear-achingly awful that it made Rodrick want to gouge his ears out with a screwdriver. Greg, sprawled out in the passenger seat, grinned at him with a knowing smirk so irritating that Rodrick wanted to smack it off of his face, clear through the windshield.

He turned his attention back to the road. The muscles in his arm twitched slightly as he gripped the sweaty steering wheel tighter and purposely took the next corner a little harder than necessary, just barely kissing the curb and making the van tilt treacherously on two side wheels.

Manny abruptly cut off his singing and Greg grunted as he was thrown against the door. Rodrick smirked a little. Oops.

He pulled into the mall parking lot and screeched to a stop in one of the spaces, not bothering to check if he had actually parked between the lines before jumping out and shoving the side door open.

Manny reached out for him with both hands, dropping his decaying blanket in the process and letting out a cry of dismay. Rodrick grumbled and picked it up, tossing it back into the van before unbuckling Manny, pulling him out of his seat, and setting him down on the ground.

"Let's get this over with." He muttered, and slammed the door shut before pocketing his keys and grabbing Manny's small hand, proceeding to practically drag him as he started for the front doors of the mall.

"Wodwick!" Manny was stumbling along, not quite able to keep up with Rodrick's long strides.

Rodrick gritted his teeth, irritated with the whine in Manny's voice. Stopping, he thrust his hand with Manny's in it out towards Greg. "Brat number one, meet brat number two."

Greg rolled his eyes at him and took Manny's hand, and Manny immediately brightened and started toddling along happily as Greg slowed down his pace to accommodate him.

"So am I brat number one, or brat number two?"

Rodrick ignored him and strolled ahead, pushing open the front doors and stepping inside the mall, which felt almost freezing cold compared to outside. He stood there for a second, relishing in the blissful feeling of air conditioning rolling over him, from his slightly damp hair to his sweat-streaked t-shirt. Then he scanned the various stores until he found the one that had a bunch of sticky kids and anxious parents swarming around it. Turning around and looked for Greg and Manny, he saw that they weren't even in the mall yet! They were just strolling across the parking lot, taking their time. Did they have some sort of _thing_ for being slowly cooked alive? Rodrick pushed open the door, holding it open and sticking his head out into the muggy hotness just long enough to yell:

"Hey! Hurry it up, Greg!"

It took them at least another fifteen seconds, which felt like forever, and by the time they got to the doors, Rodrick was fed up and about ready to drag them home. He would have too, except...if they went back without ice cream, Susan would undoubtably make Rodrick take Greg and Manny all the way back to the mall. She'd probably make _sure_ she got back the leftover change too. He wouldn't put it past her to do something like that.

"Look, Rodrick!" Greg said excitedly, pointing to a colourful sign outside the store. "There's waffle cones!"

"Uh-huh. That's great. Get going."

Manny squealed excitedly and took off. Greg followed after him and Rodrick frowned, dodging kids that ran this way and that, and followed a little slower.

Even being in the bad mood that he was, Rodrick had to admit that the new store was rather impressive.

Behind a glass display case was a plethora of toppings ranging from sprinkles, to fruit swimming in syrup, to crumbled up candy bars, to plastic squeeze bottles filled with about seven different colours of syrups.

And there were at least thirty different flavours of soft-serve ice cream with exotic names like Pistachio and Huckleberry and Lemon Twist. All in their own huge tub, with their own little serving spoon. How quaint.

The sickly sweet smell of waffle cones hung in the air, and Greg and Manny were already pressed up against the glass in front of the ice cream. Greg was quietly reading the flavours to Manny, who was standing there with his fingers in his mouth.

"Vanilla Storm, Cherry Almond, Pumpkin Spice, Chocolate fudge, Peanut Brittle..."

Rodrick rolled his eyes a little, knowing that Manny probably wasn't paying any attention, and wouldn't be able to understand any of it even if he was.

He frowned and flinched away from a little girl carrying a tall, drippy cone before walking up beside them.

"He'll have one of that," He said to the woman behind the counter, while pointing randomly at an unnaturally pink flavour, not really caring whether Manny liked it or not. All he wanted to do was get out of there so he could be back in his air-conditioned van and on the way home.

The woman handed the cone to Rodrick, and he handed it down to Manny before turning to Greg.

"Hurry up."

"What are you getting?" Greg peered up at him.

"Why does it matter? Just hurry up."

Greg studied the flavours for a few more seconds before looking up. "Chocolate Fudge please."

"Anything else?" The lady asked after handing Greg a heaping cone with a plastic spoon stuck in it.

Greg beamed at Rodrick from behind his ice cream and Rodrick scowled a little. There were millions of different flavours he could have picked but no, Greg just _had_ get the one that he knew was Rodrick's favourite.

The fact that Greg seemed to be copying practically _everything_ that he did lately, annoyed the hell out of Rodrick. Screw whoever said that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. Being copied all the time by his wimpy brother had to be one of the most annoying things in the world.

"Uh...the lemon one."

"You like _lemon_?" Greg asked curiously, a bit of incredulousness seeping into his voice and making it shriller.

Rodrick ignored him and took a long lick after he had gotten his cone, then stared hard at the menus on the wall to distract himself from grimacing at the unpleasant taste in his mouth.

"Hey Rodrick. Can we get sprinkles?" Greg asked, quickly loosing interest in his flavour choice and following Rodrick as he went over to the till to pay a woman with frizzy hair.

"No." Rodrick said.

"You all have a wonderful day!" The red-haired lady gushed, handing him the change and looking so bubbly that she could float away any minute. Rodrick didn't really blame her. The sugary fumes in that place were probably waaaay over health regulations.

"Thanks." He muttered and grabbed Manny's free hand, weaving through the crowd and pushing open the door with his elbow.

They walked through the mall and out the front doors into the disgustingly muggy hotness again.

"You get ice cream anywhere in the van, and I will murder you in your sleep." Rodrick told Greg darkly.

Greg neatly licked the top of his ice cream and stared pointedly at Manny.

Rodrick followed his gaze, looking down and seeing streams of pink _already _trickling down Manny's chubby little arm as he struggled to keep his grip on the slippery cone. Letting out a huff, Rodrick looked away and concentrated on getting across the parking lot while keeping his own ice cream from dripping all over his arm. Which unfortunately required eating it.

A small disturbance near his side made him look down again. Greg was grouping under Rodrick's long shirt, inching his hand into the pocket in Rodrick's jeans.

"What the hell?"

Greg jumped back, something silver flashing in his hand.

"Hey Rodrick, can I drive home?" He held up Rodrick's keys.

Rodrick narrowed his eyes, giving Greg the dirtiest look he could manage. The only thing that stopped him from cussing Greg out was Manny, who was definitely not limited to tattling to Susan only about Greg.

"Greg? Give them back. _Now_."

Greg shuffled backwards, grinned, and then turned around and trotted around to the other side of the van.

"Wait here." Rodrick muttered darkly to Manny, taking his small hand and wrapping it around the door handle.

Then he stalked after Greg, who ran around the van at least another three times, grinning the whole time Rodrick chased him and got increasingly more irritated.

Greg finally stopped, panting a little, the heat getting too much even for him. Rodrick stomped right up to where he was leaning casually against the side of the van, licking his ice cream, which had still managed to stay neat somehow. He grinned innocently up at Rodrick and giggled a bit.

Ha freaking ha. Rodrick grabbed Greg's hand and pried the keys out of them.

"Gee, you don't need to get so mad."

"Well you don't need to be such a freaking brat." Rodrick retorted, pushed open the side door and waiting for Manny to awkwardly climb in, before buckling him in one handedly. Then he turned around and plucked Greg's ice cream right out of his hand.

"H...Hey!" Greg protested.

"Payback." Rodrick observed, and backed away, walking around to the driver's side and pulling the door open with one finger. He got in and pulled it closed with his foot, clicking the lock down with his elbow. Greg scowled at him through his window, then ran around to the other side, where the door had been left open.

"Rodrick, give it back!" He climbed into the passenger seat and reached over as Rodrick held it out of his reach. "Rodrick!"

Rodrick smirked a little. Then he blinked as Greg's melting ice cream slid from the cone and fell onto his chest.

"Gah!" He flailed a bit, flinching as the cold seeped through his shirt.

"_Hey!_" Greg lunged forward onto Rodrick, grabbing the now empty cone out of his hand and trying to scrape the melting ice cream off of his shirt.

"Get off me!" Rodrick growled, and pushed him, making Greg lose his grip on his recently recovered ice cream. It went falling to the floor and landed with a soft sound. Greg and Rodrick both watched it melt into a puddle, which then seeped into the carpet.

"Great! Now look what you did!"

"You jerk!" Greg turned to him, hysterical.

"Calm down. You can have mine." Rodrick said in disgust, holding his cone out to Greg.

"But...you licked it_..._!"Greg protested.

"Just take it!" Rodrick snapped, and practically shoved the cone into Greg's hand_._

Still scowling, and in an even worse mood than before, he wiped his sticky hands on his jeans, leaving a nice smear, before shoving the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot without even bothering to put on his seatbelt.

"Sorry it got on the floor." Greg mumbled a few minutes later, watching the road fly by and quietly licking at Rodrick's ice cream.

Rodrick glanced over at him, sitting there all neat, his shirt ice cream-less, and his hands not even that sticky. Greg looked sideways at him with his big eyes and Rodrick turned away.

"Whatever."

His van needed to be cleaned anyway, but he didn't tell Greg that.


End file.
